Argument
by Lee-Jane
Summary: The gang wanted to have a get together one lovely summer day, and after several failed attempts it finally seemed like they'd be able to! Unfortunately, an argument would of course ruin their otherwise lovely outing. Jyoumato, with minor Taiora, Miyakeru, Daiken, and Koukari.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfiction in a looooong time. I love Jyoumato and haven't seen enough lovely fics for it on here, so here! Have a one shot. It hasn't been read over at all. I just sat down and cranked it out. Sorry!

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It was probably the nicest day in a long time there in Odaiba. The gang had planned on getting together for a little summer barbeque, but all of their previous set dates had been rained out, or far too hot to even consider going outside. Finally, the forecast called for clear skies and reasonable temperatures, so they all headed to the park that weekend for the outing. Taichi and Sora arrived first, having been the brains behind the whole operation.

"Did you remember the burgers?" Sora asked her boyfriend with a smirk as she set out the large picnic blanket she'd been saving just for today.

"Yes, I remembered the burgers! Isn't that something you should have asked me before we left, anyway?" Taichi grumbled, setting out the food they brought. Sora just laughed in response. It wasn't long before others started showing up: Miyako and Takeru being next. They brought a few dessert dishes Miyako had made. She mentioned to Sora that there was another dessert that Takeru made, but it didn't even look edible.

"I tried, ok!" Takeru said indignantly. Miyako laughed and patted his back.

"Yeah yeah, but jelly beans don't go with everything you know! Don't worry, I'll teach you how to make something next time."

Takeru blushed in embarrassment before declaring he was going to go help Taichi light the grill. He was a little embarrassed that his dish had failed the way it did, and he was even a little bit upset that Miyako hadn't even tried to ease the blow of his failure. Takeru would get over it quickly, though. He was still going to tell Miyako about how she'd briefly bruised his ego later, but it wasn't big enough of a deal to mention then. It could wait. Next to arrive were Ken and Daisuke. Ken had somehow convinced Daisuke to not bring every cup of ramen he owned, and instead they brought ice and beverages. Koushiro and Hikari arrived shortly after with all the plates and utensils. Koushiro quickly ran off to help Taichi and Takeru with the grill when everyone saw the very tall fire that had erupted. It was then that Iori arrived with a frisbee, a ball, and a few other things for the group to entertain themselves with.

"Mimi's not coming after all?" Hikari asked Sora as she set up the plates and utensils in neat piles.

"No, she couldn't leave after all. Something about a fashion crisis. You know her. She swore she'd make it the next time, though!" Sora answered with a smile.

"That's good, I miss her."

"What?! No Mimi! Uggggg, I wanted to show her this awesome magazine I picked up yesterday," Miyako whined. Sora and Hikari giggled as they watched Miyako pout.

"So that leaves Yamato and Jyou, then," Hikari mused.

"Yep. Bringing the salad."

"Well, that suits Jyou just fine."

"It's a barbeque! Who brings salad to a barbeque?" Miyako questioned. "Maybe a vegetable tray, y'know! Finger food! But a salad?"

Sora shrugged. "That's just what Jyou said on the phone when I asked him."

"We have utensils anyway," Hikari said. "A salad's fine."

"If you say so," Miyako said as she stood up to go help Iori set up the net he'd brought for badmitten.

Everyone was busying themselves with something: Hikari and Sora were working to set up the picnic area. Taichi, Koushiro, and Takeru were attempting to work the grill and get the burgers cooking. Miyako and Iori were setting up the activities while Daisuke teased them and Ken lightly scolded Daisuke for doing so. Everything was peaceful for the most part, just like the good old days when they were all kids. They were enjoying everyone's company, the weather, and the aroma of food once the burgers finally made it to the grill. It was pleasant.

Until the storm that was Yamato Ishida arrived, with Jyou following right on his tail.

"Well maybe I didn't want to!" Yamato yelled as he walked up to the picnic area. Sora and Hikari froze where they were, stopping their actions midway.

"How was I suppose to know that?! I can't read your mind!" Jyou yelled back, tearing his eyes away from Yamato to set the bowl he was carrying down. He calmly removed the lid, revealing quite a lot of salad.

"Clearly!" Yamato snapped. He was glaring daggers at Jyou, his blue eyes bright with rage. Sora and Hikari got smart and backed away from the area. Yamato was known for his explosive anger, and while they didn't think he'd do anything to them physically, it wouldn't be outrageous to think food might start flying. Miyako ran up to Hikari and placed a hand on the Digidestined of Light's shoulder.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"No clue," Hikari answered.

Soon, a group of Digidestined stood in a semi-circle around the picnic area a safe distance away. They all watched in confusion as Jyou and Yamato bickered back and forth. There was some light chatter amongst them, everyone trying to figure out what had started the yelling. It seemed no one knew. And using context clues from the fight weren't helping.

"I can't even gather what it is they're fighting about," Koushiro observed.

"Yeah, Yamato tends to change the subject when he's mad," Taichi said off-handedly as he watched his two friends yell back and forth. Koushiro nodded in agreement.

"Someone should stop them," Iori noted idly. They weren't alone in the park, afterall. And already people in other groups were stopping what they were doing to watch the bickering couple. He looked over to Takeru, who in turn looked to Taichi.

"Yeah..." Taichi said softly as he slowly walked towards Yamato and Jyou.

"Maybe if you'd just tell me when you're upset we could avoid all of this! Why do you have to be so difficult?!" Jyou sounded off.

"Difficult! Pot calling the kettle black, much?! Don't even get me started on difficult! I'll be anyway I damn well want! It's my choice!" Yamato almost screamed.

"What?" Jyou's tone instantly quieted. Something Yamato said had struck a chord with him, and he was suddenly thinking this fight didn't have anything to do with Jyou not mentioning to Yamato that they were bringing salad. Well, he figured that out earlier - after all who cared if they brought salad? But a picture was forming before his eyes; it just wasn't entirely clear yet.

"I said, 'It's my choice'," Yamato answered, his voice much quieter than before. It was still very deliberate though, and it held a weight Jyou didn't miss. His words were pointed, and his gaze was unwavering. Yamato could tell Jyou was figuring it out.

"Uh, guys?" Taichi spoke up, finally reaching them. "We're sort of drawing a crowd..." He gestured to the people surrounding the group, all staring in their direction. For the first time since they arrived, Yamato and Jyou looked around and noticed the other people there. Hell, they hadn't even noticed their own friends around them. Jyou flushed instantly in embarrassment.

"Ah, s-sorry!" he exclaimed, then proceeded to bow and apologize in several different directions. Yamato on the other hand just turned on his heel and started walking away.

"Wait, Yamato!" Taichi called after him. Jyou hadn't seen his boyfriend leaving, but he certainly heard Taichi. He looked over at Yamato then and watched the back of the other man as he left. Jyou made no move to stop him. "Uh, Jyou? Is... this ok? Shouldn't you go after him or something?"

"He needs time to cool his head," Jyou replied with a somber ring in his voice.

"I guess... What were you guys fighting about anyway?"

"I have no idea."

Koushiro decided to go back to the burgers, glad to find that they hadn't burned while his attention was directed elsewhere. Takeru ran over to the picnic area to get plates for the meat. Sora and Hikari returned to the picnic blanket, sitting down and chatting. Miyako joined them, obviously trying not to look up at Jyou with a concerned expression. Daisuke demanded Ken and Iori tell him what it was Yamato and Jyou had been fighting about since he couldn't figure out, and he whined when they told him they didn't know either. They were two of the smartest guys he knew! If they couldn't figure out what it was about, then who could?

It seemed everyone was going back to what they were doing, more or less. The cheery atmosphere returned, but it wasn't as pleasant and relaxed as before. Everyone was trying to figure out what had happened in the back of their minds, but none of them said anything. They sat around and ate, talked about various unimportant things, and after a while a good number of them broke up into teams for a good game of badmitten. Miyako, Daisuke, Takeru, and Koushiro were on one team while Sora, Hikari, Ken, and Iori were on the other. There was some good natured jeering between the two teams as they battled.

That left Jyou and Taichi sitting on the picnic blanket.

"I thought you'd be over there with them," Jyou said after a while. "Wouldn't that be more fun than sitting here?"

"The teams would have been uneven," Taichi responded. "And besides... I wanted to talk to you."

"About earlier."

"Yeah."

Both of them were silence for a while after that. They watched their friends laughing as they played their game. Sora jumped up and spiked the birdie right at Koushiro's feet and high-fived Hikari in victory. It sure looked like a lot of fun. Jyou knew that if he had been the one over there playing, though, he would have fallen flat on his face by now. He was perfectly happy sitting and watching from afar.

"I don't even really know how it happened," Jyou said after a while. He surprised himself when he'd spoken. Honestly, he had just been thinking the words and hadn't meant at all to actually say them. But Taichi was looking at him expectantly then, so Jyou felt obligated to continue. It might even help a little bit anyway. "Sora asked what I wanted to bring for today, and I said salad. I hadn't told Yamato about it because I figured it didn't matter. Then yesterday, when I was preparing it he asked what I was making so much for, and I told him... Then on the way over, I don't know... we were just talking."

Taichi didn't say anything as Jyou spoke. He just sat and listened to him. When he was younger, he might have interrupted Jyou to give his two cents before his friend was even done speaking. He'd since learned that he needed to wait and get the entire story before giving his thoughts. So, that's what he did. He waited.

"Then I decided to check the time on my phone. I was worried we were running late. I asked Yamato to hold the bowl for a second, and he said it wasn't even his idea to bring it. And well, that just started everything. It sounds really dumb now that I say it outloud," Jyou mentioned, laughing a little out of embarrassment. "What a stupid thing to fight about, am I right?"

"Not if there's more to it," Taichi told him. From the sounds of it, there most certainly was more to it. If not, well then yeah it was an incredibly dumb thing to argue about.

"Yeah... there probably is."

"What do you think it is?"

Jyou had an idea. It was something that he'd spoken to Yamato about a week before then. He just wasn't sure he really wanted to talk to Taichi about it. Yamato had these habits that were hardly good for his health, like staying up too late and not getting enough sleep if he was working on a new song. Some nights, the blonde never even came to bed. He'd stay up several nights in a row, and then pass out at his desk. Jyou kept finding him bent over music scores, sleeping - which was terrible for his back - or out cold on the floor having fallen out of his chair in the middle of the night. Yamato also went through coffee and energy drinks like they were air, sometimes would only eat maybe a donut if anything... It was all absolutely horrible for his health, and Jyou had started to get worried. Once in a while wasn't that bad he guessed. But when Yamato started writing music full time, these strings of days when he took poor care of himself became more frequent.

Finally, Jyou had sat Yamato down and told him that he was a grown man. Yamato needed to take better care of himself, starting right then. He had been more than a little surprised when Yamato said ok. Now, his tone wasn't really all that convincing when he'd said it. It wasn't the ok one would hear if they asked someone to hit the lights, or take out the garbage. His ok was a little more confused and questioning. But subtly so. Only a little bit. Jyou only really noticed the tone after he had recovered from the shock of that being the end of it. He had been expecting some sort of a fight from his lover. All Yamato said, though, was 'ok.'

When Yamato said he would be anyway he wanted and that it was his choice, Jyou got the feeling that was what he was really upset about. After all, Jyou had been very blunt when he'd told Yamato that he needed to take better care of himself. Looking back, he could see how Yamato would assume Jyou was telling him how to live. That wasn't the case at all, but he could see Yamato coming to that conclusion after he thought about it on his own for a week.

"Jyou?" Taichi asked. Jyou had gone quiet, and Taichi was curious what it was he was thinking. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

"Yeah," Jyou answered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah... but not with you," he replied.

"Oh." Taichi couldn't help but feel a little offended by that. Not a lot, just a little. Was he not good enough to talk about it with? Did Jyou not think he could help or understand?

"I want to talk to Yamato about it."

"Oh. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea," Taichi said with a chuckle. The momentary offense he'd felt was gone then. It made sense that Jyou would want to talk to Yamato - and he should! Talking to Yamato about it was completely fine.

Jyou stood up then, a determined expression set on his face.

"Wa-wait, you meant now? Like right now?" Taichi asked, scrambling to his feet.

"Yeah. Sorry to head out earlier, but I really need to talk to him."

"Alright man... I understand."

"Thanks Taichi." Jyou smiled at Taichi, who returned it. Taichi clapped him on the shoulder.

"Go get him."

Yamato was playing his guitar a little more violently than he should have. He was mad, though, and desperately needed to vent. Sometimes playing his guitar, or his harmonica, helped. But not today. No matter how much he played, he was still angry. So, so angry. He wanted to hit something, smash something, scream and yell and just be mad. Yamato couldn't really do that, though. The last time he'd done something like that, he had destroyed a good bit of the living room, and his neighbors called the cops.

What Yamato really needed, though, was Jyou. He was furious with him of course, but he still needed to talk to Jyou. Of course he hadn't told his boyfriend what it was he was upset about. Talking about his feelings was never one of his strong points. And once he was mad, he just couldn't calm down until he was exhausted. Jyou wasn't like that. Jyou got uptight about things a lot, so that might have been why it was so much easier to calm him down. All Yamato had to do most of the time was touch him. Kiss him maybe. Sometimes he could calm Jyou down with just a look. Yamato didn't work that way. He didn't get upset about things until he was at his wits end, and at that point all he could do was explode.

That's what had happened this time. In truth, he was upset about what he and Jyou had talked about earlier that week. He felt like a child being scolded by his parent. So what, he had rules now? Like Jyou said, he was a grown man! He was allowed to choose how he lived his life himself. What was Jyou going to do if he didn't take care of himself anyway, punish him? Yeah right.

"Yamato."

Yamato jumped up from the couch where he'd been sitting. Jyou had startled him out of his thoughts. Yamato had been so lost in them that he hadn't even heard Jyou come home. He recovered from his shock quickly though and glared.

"What, not off having fun with everyone?"

"You know it's not the same without you."

"Whatever." Yamato turned to their room to put the guitar away, but Jyou stopped him by lightly grabbing his arm.

"Not whatever. C'mon. We need to talk."

"Maybe I don't want to talk!" Yamato snapped at him as he ripped his arm away.

"I want to talk."

Yamato debated just going into their bedroom and slamming the door shut. He almost did, but the look on Jyou's face stopped him. They needed to talk. They really did. Yamato was wearing himself out anyway, and soon he'd want to snuggle up to Jyou and sleep. He couldn't really do that if they were still fighting. He set his guitar down against the wall and plopped down on the couch.

"Fine. Talk." His posture screamed defiance with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his legs resting on the coffee table. Jyou sat down next to Yamato and rested his hand on Yamato's thigh.

"You're mad about last week," he stated.

"No shit."

"Care to tell me why?"

Yamato scoffed. "I have to tell you? You're only a year older than me! I don't need you to tell me what to do, you're not my parent!"

"I wasn't trying to tell you what to do."

"You told me I needed to take better care of myself!"

"You do."

"I'm fine! Completely fine, Jyou! I don't need you to tell me how to take care of myself!"

Jyou pinched the bridge of his nose. He almost said that he apparently did need to tell Yamato how to take care of himself if he thought he was doing a fine job of it. But he didn't say that. Instead, he just rubbed Yamato's thigh.

"Not sleeping, not eating... that didn't seem like you were taking care of yourself to me," he finally said.

"Well I was. I sleep when I'm tired, I eat when I'm hungry. Sorry if it's not on a schedule," Yamato told him pointedly, looking away. Jyou didn't like that, so he tucked a finger under Yamato's chin and turned his face back towards him.

"I was worried. I love you, you know that. I was just scared you were going to get sick," Jyou told him softly. Well, worded like that, Yamato could hardly hold his glare the way he had been.

"You don't need to worry," Yamato insisted.

"I always worry."

"Yeah, I know."

They both sat in silence for a while. Jyou was wondering what it was that was going through Yamato's mind then, and Yamato was wondering just how much of an ass he'd been. Of course that's why Jyou had told him to take better care of himself. He knew it wasn't a power thing, and yet he'd somehow convinced himself it was. He should apologize. Yamato knew he should, but he was never very good at apologizing. And it wasn't just Jyou who deserved one. All of his friends did too. After all, he had deliberately left the picnic they'd been planning for weeks. And made quite the scene before doing so.

"Yamato?"

Jyou's voice brought him out of his thoughts again. And then so did his lips. It was a small kiss, but it relaxed Yamato enough for him to rest his head against Jyou's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. Jyou smiled, wrapping his arms around Yamato's shoulders.

"Me too. I should have known you were upset... and I really should have worded it better."

They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the peace they had after all that yelling from earlier. It would hardly be their last fight, and Yamato would of course worry Jyou by letting his sleeping habits suffer again. But for the moment, things were ok.

"I need to apologize to everyone else, too," Yamato mumbled.

"They love you too. I doubt they care."

Yamato smiled. He would still apologize to everyone later, but he knew what Jyou said was true. Good friends know you, and they rarely hold grudges. He just might need to bring more than a salad to their next outing.


	2. Chapter 2

Yeah, ok, the first chapter was meant to be a oneshot, but then I got an idea to continue it...it's finished again? I'm exhausted. Please forgive any of the mistakes there might be.

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"Too much red meat is terrible for you."

"Yeah, but I'm not eating too much of it."

This was a conversation they had a lot, especially when Jyou went along with Yamato to the grocery store. Jyou liked to go with Yamato most of the time because he didn't want to be shoving all the responsibilities pertaining to food onto his lover, but the truth was... Jyou couldn't cook if his life depended on it. That was definitely Yamato's area of expertise. Jyou, of course, still complained about a lot of the things Yamato bought.

"Maybe in your opinion you aren't, but as a doctor-"

"If you don't want it, I'll get you something else. But I want ribs," Yamato said with a shrug as he lightly tossed a pack of ribs into the cart. "You worry too much anyway. You think every paper cut I get will get infected."

"Well one day, it might!" Jyou rebuffed, huffing a little bit.

"Relax. It's just one night." Yamato wasn't even looking at Jyou. He didn't need to. Jyou made the same expression every time Yamato brushed one of his medical concerns off like it was nothing, so he knew his lover was narrowing his eyes at the floor, crossing his arms, and tightening his lips into a line without even glancing his way. Jyou worried a lot about things like that, and while it could often get on Yamato's nerves, he understood that Jyou only worried so much because he loved him. And Yamato listened to him every now and then out of love as well.

"Salad, then. A lot of it," Jyou decided after a moment of pouting, and he started heading towards the produce section without waiting for Yamato. The blond would catch up eventually.

Yamato took his time getting to the produce section, partly because he wasn't sure if there was anything else he needed or wanted for dinner, and partly because he was trying to remember if he told Jyou that he took on a new freelance job writing a song. No... no, he didn't think he did. It must have been Taichi he told.

"Cucumbers look good," Jyou muttered when Yamato finally made it over to him. He put three of them in the cart.

"You know you have to bag it and put a barcode on it, right?" Yamato teased, smirking.

"Well I know that _now_."

Yamato chuckled as he grabbed a bag to put the cucumbers in. Once it was tied, he handed it to Jyou so he could put it on the scale and get the print-out barcode. After that, Jyou filled up the cart with a lot of vegetables, most of which Yamato rolled his eyes at. It wasn't that he didn't like vegetables, but Jyou seriously went over board on his health kicks. Their total at the register was way more than Yamato had planned to spend. Luckily, Jyou had brought money and paid for it all.

Jyou chopped up the vegetables for the salad while Yamato slathered the ribs in barbeque sauce.

"That looks like a heart attack waiting to happen," Jyou commented.

"Delicious heart attack."

Jyou rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I got a freelance job," Yamato said after a moment as he slid the ribs into the oven.

"Yeah? That's great! We could really use the money since they've been cutting your hours."

"Yeah. Deadline's this weekend though."

"Wait, what?" Jyou paused in his vegetable chopping to give Yamato a hard look.

"Yeah, I tried to extend it, but it was a no go. I can do it, though." Really, he could. It would just be a close call considering it was Thursday and they wanted it by Sunday at 10am.

"How much do they need?"

"Um... a three-minute song, completely composed."

"Completely? By Saturday?!"

"Sunday," Yamato corrected, shrugging.

"Yamato!"

Yeah, Yamato figured that was how this was going to go. He pulled his apron off over his head and draped it over a chair in the kitchen before going to wash his hands. "Relax, I can do it."

"It will be cutting it really close! You're still going to work, right?"

"Of course. Look, I can do it. Don't worry," Yamato said in an exasperated tone.

"But-"

"I can do it."

Yamato walked up to Jyou and placed a kiss gently on his lips. "You worry too much. Chill." It was a tactic Yamato used a lot. Whenever Jyou started to worry more than Yamato thought was necessary, he would just kiss him and it would instantly shut the dark-haired man up. Just like usual, it worked like a charm. Jyou nodded and returned to his vegetable chopping.

The two enjoyed a very nice, relaxed dinner filled with ribs and vegetables and lots and lots of napkins.

"You're not going to stay up too late, are you?" Jyou asked, concern written all over his face as he dried a plate. It was normal for him and Yamato to do the dishes together. Jyou was always a perfectionist with the dishes, trying to buff out scratches and such that just weren't going to be coming out no matter how much he scrubbed, so Yamato always did the washing. Jyou was the drier.

"No, worry-wart. I told you I'd take better care of myself, didn't I?" Yamato replied as he rolled his eyes. Honestly, no faith at all! Even if he did stay up late, he'd been watching his sleeping schedule. What was the big deal if he did stay up a little late just one night? He didn't think he would, though.

"Sorry..." Jyou put the plate in the cupboard before moving behind Yamato and wrapping his arms around the shorter man's waist. "I'm not trying to nag."

Yamato leaned against Jyou as he continued to clean the pot in the sink. "Mhm."

"I'm really not trying to!"

"I know."

"I just worry and-"

Yamato left the pot in the sink and turned around to wrap his arms around Jyou's neck - still covered in soap suds - and kissing him. "Chill," he said after pulling away. Then he returned to his pot. Jyou stayed where he was for a little while longer, enjoying the embrace, before going back to his dish-drying position.

Eventually the dishes were done, and the two men found themselves relaxing on the couch, watching a show. Yamato had his head in Jyou's lap while Jyou idly ran his fingers through Yamato's blond bangs.

"You know I'm going to have to get to work soon," Yamato said during a commercial break.

"I know. And you promise you'll get to bed a reasonable time, right?" Jyou was always early to bed, early to rise, especially since he was a doctor. Yamato was a bit different. He tended to go to bed a few hours after Jyou, even when he wasn't staying up late.

"Stop nagging, jeez. Yeah, I'll get to bed at a decent time, _Dad_."

Jyou laughed at Yamato's comment, then light smacked his thigh to tell him to get up. Yamato lifted his head to let Jyou out."Good thing I'm not your Dad or half the things we do would be illegal," he said as he got up.

"Only half?"

Jyou grabbed a pillow as he walked away and threw it at Yamato. "Sooner you get to work, the sooner you can come to bed, son." He smirked.

Yamato slapped the pillow away. "You're not cute."

"Taking a shower," Jyou said as he disappeared into their bedroom. Well, that meant it was time for Yamato to get to work, it seemed. He got up, stretched, and then headed towards the desk to grab his notebook and get started on the job. Yeah, he didn't even have any lyrics yet. He left out the little part of the job where he also had to compose the lyrics and record them all. All. By. Sunday. At the time, it didn't seem like it would take that long to do it all... It was just a stupid little song for an info-merical thing. There only needed to be about fifteen seconds of lyrics, and the rest was just to be played throughout the program in the background. Still... it would take a little while to write the lyrics, compose the music, and then record it all.

Yamato put on a playlist on his mp3 player to get inspired, and he started scribbling down random lyrics that he might use in his notebook.

Jyou came out and kissed Yamato on the forehead about an hour later, and he was still scribbling down lyrics ideas.

"Love you," Jyou said as he headed to bed. Yamato groaned. Shit, he used the lavender soap. He could smell it coming off of him, and instantly his body tightened. Ah, not fair Jyou. Not fair. Yamato swiveled in his chair and smiled at his lover.

"Sleep well." Yamato would not be swayed by the sweet smelling soap. He would get the lyrics written, and then get to bed. Jyou and his stupid soap.

Unfortunately, that had distracted him a little bit, and it took him a few - more like twenty - minutes to get back into the zone where he was scribbling lyrics across the page.

Yamato finally crawled into bed at about quarter to six, fifteen minutes before Jyou's alarm went off for him to get up. He had to tip-toe into the room to make sure he didn't accidentally wake up Jyou. Alright, so he worked later than he intended, but it was just this once. No big deal, right? He could still get in like... two hours of sleep before he had to get to work. Yamato could work with that, and just down a ton of coffee. Yeah, that would totally work. Just this once.

He slipped into bed and found himself falling asleep almost instantly, nice and snug in his bed, pressed up against Jyou. Ahhh, he still smelled like lavender.

Yamato was fast asleep by the time Jyou's alarm went off, which jolted him out of the dream that had just started. Jyou groaned and snuggled closer to Yamato, mumbling something about being comfortable and not wanting to get up.

"Work," Yamato whined against Jyou's shoulder. Usually if Yamato just spouted off words like 'work' or 'patients', Jyou would get up and turn off the stupid alarm out of guilt. It worked, just as usual. Jyou kissed Yamato's forehead, then pulled back the covers to get out of bed and turn off the alarm.

"I must have been out when you came to bed," Jyou said as he stressed. It wasn't uncommon for him to hold a brief conversation with Yamato before getting ready for the day. Actually, Jyou liked doing that quite a bit. He never did it for long since it was a bit unfair to keep Yamato up at six am when he could get some more sleep, but he really did love talking to the blond in the morning before going to work.

Yamato apparently didn't want to talk this morning though. He just moaned and rolled over. Jyou laughed, kissed his lover's forehead again, and then headed into the kitchen to get ready.

It seemed like only five minutes later when Yamato's alarm went off at eight. He was tempted to call in to work and say that he was sick, but Jyou would find out someway for certain, and he'd get a lecture he didn't want to hear. So, with that in mind, Yamato pulled himself out of bed and proceeded to make a lot more coffee than he normally would.

He felt a little bit awake after two cups of coffee and a shower. It would have to do. He poured himself one more cup of coffee in a to go cup, then headed out the door.

Of course today would be the day when the owner of the company came to see how everyone was doing. One of the women who worked with him actually pulled him aside to put some make-up on his dark circles. She said she normally wouldn't care, but him looking bad would make the whole branch look bad, and she simply couldn't have that. Yamato didn't care. It gave him an excuse to rest his eyes for a couple minutes.

He was completely exhausted when he got home, and of course he stilled needed to work on that freelance job. Shit. Yamato sat down at his desk to get to it. He almost punched something when he looked over his work from the night before, though. Apparently he had been so exhausted that he actually just scribbled across the page, and almost none of what he had written was legible. Yamato wondered if he'd eventually remember what he wrote, or if he'd have to rewrite all the lyrics.

About an hour later, Jyou came home to find Yamato writing (rewriting) lyrics in his notebook.

"I'm home," Jyou announced as he toed off his shoes at the door.

"Hey," Yamato called, not looking up from his notebook. Ok, did that say sunny day, or bale of hay? Damn his late night handwriting! He didn't even have the score written for this yet, and it was Friday! He needed to have this done so he could record, mix, and edit on Saturday!

Jyou kissed Yamato's cheek since it seemed Yamato wasn't going to greet him. "I take it we're ordering take out of dinner?" Jyou asked. Yamato didn't answer, though. It seemed he was thoroughly engrossed in what he was writing. So, Jyou tapped him on the shoulder

"What?" Yamato asked, momentarily startled.

"Take out for dinner?"

"Oh. Yeah sure. I'm not hungry though," Yamato replied, immediately going back to his work.

"Not hungry?"

"Yeah, I had a big lunch." That was a lie. Yamato slept through lunch.

"Oh... well I'm still going to order something for you, alright? You can eat some later."

"Yeah, kay."

Jyou had to smile at Yamato. He was definitely completely absorbed in his work. He was afraid his lover would let his health slip again, but his face looked alive and healthy as it held plenty of color. Normally, if Yamato was neglecting himself, he'd turn a pale color and get bags under his eyes.

Yamato worked through dinner, and then some.

"Why don't you take a break for a second?" Jyou asked from the couch. He was watching a show and felt a bit lonely on the couch by himself.

"Can't... I gotta have this written by tomorrow so I can record," came Yamato's reply.

"Not even a ten minute break?"

"Nope. Sorry."

Jyou chuckled. He had a feeling he could convince Yamato to take a break, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to arouse his lover, or let him work. It was really tempting to distract him, it really was. Ahhh, but Jyou figured he should be good and let Yamato work. So he took his shower and left Yamato in peace. When bedtime came, Jyou kissed the back of Yamato's head and headed off to bed. Yamato was so focused that he didn't even say goodnight.

Yamato had to rewrite the lyrics a few times. The first time, he was trying to remember what he had written the night before, and when he'd gotten it pretty close, he realized the lyrics were garbage. Finally, he started to write the score, which required him to finger pick some melodies on his guitar while he sang quietly along. That was a bit difficult since at some point, Jyou had gone to bed and Yamato hadn't even noticed. Luckily it was Saturday next, and neither of them had to leave the house. That meant there would be no alarm, he didn't have anywhere to be, and Jyou couldn't really lecture him for going to bed later than usual.

It was seven am before Yamato crawled into bed. Beyond exhausted, he almost passed out the moment his head hit the pillow. Less than a half hour later, according to the clock, Jyou woke up and decided cuddling was a good idea. It woke Yamato up, much to his chagrin.

"You've been working really hard," Jyou said as he nuzzled Yamato's shoulder. Yamato just moaned in reply, which caused Jyou to chuckle. "Oh come on, the sun's up. I'll make breakfast. Go get a shower, you obviously didn't take one before bed." Yamato smelled a bit. It wasn't that bad or anything, but it was enough for Jyou to not want to hug him for too long.

Since Jyou decided to make breakfast, there was a lot of banging in the kitchen, and it seemed Yamato wouldn't be allowed to sleep after all. He got up and showered as he was told, not wanting to give Jyou any reason to nag him. He could feel a huge headache coming on.

While Yamato was in the shower, Jyou noticed that the food he'd ordered for Yamato was still in the fridge, untouched. He frowned, but hoped that maybe Yamato just really wasn't hungry. He had to give his lover the benefit of the doubt. Yamato said that he would take care of himself, and he had been. No, Jyou couldn't jump to conclusions. He grabbed the eggs that he'd been after and started breakfast.

Yamato was able to feign being awake after his shower, long enough for him to get some coffee in him. He didn't really want to eat breakfast as he wasn't feeling hungry, but Jyou insisted.

"Fine, fine! But your eggs suck, just so you know," Yamato said with a grin, taking a bit of the eggs that had no where near enough salt or pepper on them.

"Hey! I like my eggs."

"They're bland. Pass the hot sauce."

"Hot sauce on your eggs? For breakfast? Don't you think it's a bit early for that?"

"Never too early for flavor." Yamato almost said it wouldn't be too early if Jyou had let him sleep, but this was the normal time they got up on the weekend and he seriously didn't want to make Jyou suspicious. Lectures would just slow him down.

After breakfast, he went straight to work recording his score. He was so tired that occassionally, his fingers just wouldn't work correctly as he strummed his guitar. Jyou asked if he was feeling alright, and naturally Yamato insisted he was fine. It was something with the strings, no big deal. He'd get it fixed after he got everything recorded and met the deadline. Jyou didn't know anything about musical instruments, so he just agreed and then said he was heading out.

Yamato passed out for about an hour while Jyou was out. Luckily, he was able to wake himself up around twenty-minutes before Jyou came home. He got everything recorded, vocals and music in all, around when the sun was setting. All he had left was mixing.

"Are you going to be able to get it all done?" Jyou asked.

"Yeah. It shouldn't take too long. Besides, I can get up early and finish anything I need to tomorrow. Deadline's at ten."

Jyou looked at the clock, then at his exhausted looking boyfriend. "Maybe you should take a quick nap. You look tired."

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Yamato, you-"

"I'm fine, Jyou. Chill."

Jyou sighed, then nodded. Right, trust him. He had to trust Yamato. Well, it wasn't that he didn't trust him... it was just that... he was working so hard, and he looked tired. And he hadn't seen Yamato eat anything since breakfast. He was about to ask if Yamato had when his pager buzzed. Shit... work needed him in the ER. He sighed. Normally Jyou would go without question, but he was worried about Yamato.

"Go on, go be a hero," Yamato said with a smile before Jyou could even vocalize his worries. "I'll be in bed when you get home, probably. So good night."

Jyou sighed again, then nodded. He couldn't just ignore the call. He quickly got ready to go in, kissed Yamato good bye, and left.

Yamato was pleased with this turn of events. It meant he had a while to work before he had to turn in, and he could do it without Jyou's well-meaning concerned comments. He got right back to work on mixing the sound and editting it so certain parts looped. He lowered the sound to go under the audio of the show, as that was part of the job as well that he hadn't mentioned to Jyou. Somewhere around midnight he realized that he'd forgotten to record a segment - how he forgot was beyond him. Yamato didn't think about how long it was going to take to record it and mix it in, he just knew he had to get it done.

His stomach growled loudly throughout the night as he hadn't eaten anything - not one thing - since breakfast. Yamato ignore it, though. He had a deadline to meet, and he wasn't going to miss it.

The emergency had been a five car pile up on the highway, one of the cars being a bus full of tourists, and the ER had been swarmed with people. Luckily, none of Jyou's patients were that hurt, but it was still a lot of testing on his patience. He tried not to worry about Yamato at home, but every now and then he'd be reminded and hope that Yamato was taking care of himself, and as the evening progressed, asleep.

Jyou got home at 11am. While he was at the ER, another car accident happened on a different highway, and since he was there, he was tending to the injured from that accident as well. When he walked through the door, he was exhausted, cranky, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up against Yamato and sleep. What he found when he entered the main part of the apartment, though, was Yamato, unconscious on the floor by the desk. Jyou felt his heart stop for a moment before he ran to Yamato's side to wake his lover.

"Yamato!" he yelled loudly as he rolled the blond over in his arms. He lightly slapped Yamato's face, trying to make him come to. It wasn't working. Jyou was fearing the worse, and so he checked Yamato's pulse. Luckily it was going strong, but even though he called Yamato and shook him, the blond still wouldn't wake. Jyou picked him up with quite a bit of effort as he wasn't the strongest guy around and carried Yamato to the couch. There, he lifted Yamato's legs in the air, thinking the reason he passed out was low-blood pressure. When that didn't wake Yamato either, Jyou decided to try something he'd never tried on anyone that had passed out before. He filled a cup with cold water and splashed it on Yamato's face.

Well that woke him up. Yamato yelped and sat up quickly.

"What! What's going on?!" he almost screeched. Jyou set the cup down on the table to try and calm Yamato down.

"It's ok, it's ok! You passed out. What happened, are you hurt?"

Passed out? Yamato heard that and felt his heart sink. He passed out? How long had he been out?! He jumped up from the couch, ignoring the protests from Jyou insisting that he should stay seated, and grabbed his watch that he'd taken off and left on the table. 11:14am. He missed the deadline.

"FUCK!" he yelled, throwing his watch at the wall. Yamato missed the deadline, and he was soaked! Ug, this was not good at all.

"Yamato!" Jyou yelled. Apparently he'd been calling Yamato ever since the blond darted up from the couch, and Yamato had just now heard him. He looked over at Jyou, and he actually flinched. Jyou. Was. Furious. "Mind telling me what happened?"

Well, it was pretty obvious what happened to Yamato... all he had to eat since Thursday was some eggs, and he was running off of maybe three hours' sleep, total, since then as well. Great, lecture time.

"I-"

"Let it happen. You promised, and you weren't sleeping, or eating, were you?" Jyou demanded in a tone that actually scared Yamato a bit. He sort of figured if Jyou realized that Yamato was breaking his promise, there would be yelling. Not... this. This was calm and... well, a bit scary. Just a little bit.

"... yeah." There was no point in lying. Jyou had figured it out, and it was pretty dumb for Yamato to think he could keep it from a doctor anyway.

"You promised."

"I know."

Yamato leaned against the wall while Jyou sat down on the couch, staring at the floor. He had no idea what was going through his boyfriend's head as his expression was completely blank. This was something he'd honestly never seen from Jyou before. He couldn't tell if Jyou was this angry because he'd let it happen again... or if it was because he lied through his teeth while it was happening.

"Just go sleep," Jyou said after a while. Yamato didn't really want to sleep. He felt guilty about lying to Jyou now that he'd missed his deadline. He felt terrible about missing the deadline, too. That was going to hurt his reputation, shit.

"Jyou... I'm-"

"I don't care. Just go sleep."

Yamato was stunned by Jyou's cold tone. That was a tone he himself was known to use, but not Jyou. Never Jyou. The fact that Jyou was telling him to rest was good, Yamato guessed. He cared enough to know that Yamato really needed the sleep... but that tone... Yamato went to the bedroom without question to lay down.

Despite how exhausted he was, it took him a while to fall asleep. The guilt of lying to Jyou was eating at him, and in that moment, he wanted nothing more than for Jyou to come into the bedroom and cuddle up with him. That wasn't going to happen, though. Not until whatever Jyou had to say was said, which would be after Yamato got some sleep.

At some point, he did fall asleep. And it was dark out when he woke up. Yamato almost didn't want to get out of bed, knowing full well that a lecture awaited him - one that he definitely deserved. As he was trying to fall asleep, he realized that with all the time he spent fixing things he messed up due to exhaustion, he probably could have met the deadline comfortably if he'd just listened to Jyou and taken care of himself. He was seriously the biggest idiot, and he deserved to be yelled at.

Yamato was upsetting himself, something he learned a long time ago that he couldn't do. He tended to act like an idiot when he upset himself. It would be better just to go out into the main room and pay his dues. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out into the fully lit apartment.

Jyou was watching tv on the couch, munching on a fruit salad. When he heard the door open, and saw Yamato, he set the bowl down immediately and - to Yamato's surprise - embraced him.

"How are you feeling?" Jyou asked as he pulled away.

"Uh... better," Yamato answered, confusion apparent in his voice.

"Good... you really scared me, you know." Jyou was now rubbing his thumb over Yamato's cheek, staring down at his boyfriend lovingly. This was... completely different from how Jyou was acting early. Was that cold tone really just fear and anger? Yamato was sure there was something else there. Was that just how badly he'd scared Jyou?

Jyou leaned down to kiss Yamato on the mouth, fairly passionately considering the situation. When the kiss was finished, Jyou hugged Yamato again before leading him to the couch.

"Eat, you're probably starving," Jyou told Yamato, motioning to the bowl of fruit salad he'd been munching on. And Yamato couldn't disagree, he was starved. Without a single word spoken, Yamato just took the bowl and started eating the fruit. Once he had his fill, Jyou had taken Yamato in his arms again, and they were resting on the couch watching a show. Not that Yamato was complaining, but he was confused. Was Jyou just not going to say anything about it? Maybe he understood that Yamato knew he messed up.

When the show came to an end, he knew that wasn't the case. Jyou turned off the tv and started to sit up. Well, the time to talk had come. Yamato had no protests.

"You're ok now?" Jyou asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Jyou. I'm fine."

Jyou nodded, then started wringing his hands together.

"Jyou... I'm really sorry. I really-"

"I know," Jyou said, cutting Yamato off. "I know you're sorry that you got caught. But I really wasn't that mad that you neglected yourself again. I was mad that you lied about it."

Jyou was using the past tense, which told Yamato that he'd calmed down. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. If he calmed down, then perhaps there wouldn't be much of a lecture. But Yamato felt guilty, not just for breaking his promise, but for lying about it as well even though Jyou didn't seem to think so. Yamato sort of felt that he deserved to be yelled at.

"I was just... I didn't want to be lectured. I figured if I kept going, I'd get it done," Yamato said in a quiet voice. Obviously that wasn't what happened, he'd missed his deadline all because he wanted to rush and get it done, and because he was trying to avoid a freaking lecture. He really could be an idiot sometimes.

"I'm not sure if that means the lectures are that bad, or if they're not bad enough," Jyou mumbled.

Wait... what? apparently Yamato's expression matched his thoughts because Jyou started to answer him. "If they were worse, then you wouldn't have even risked getting caught by lying. It was enough of a deterrent to not admit that you were doing it again, but not enough to keep you from doing it."

Yamato almost laughed. It sounded to him like Jyou was talking about some sort of punishment. Once again, apparently his face was giving away his thoughts since Jyou kept speaking.

"Hey, if this keeps happening, then obviously you need some sort of deterrent."

"I'm pretty sure the guilt is enough," Yamato found himself saying without realizing it.

"What?"

Yamato paused before responding, staring down at the floor. He hadn't meant to admit that he was feeling incredibly guilty, but he was. "I feel really... terrible. And I think this is enough to keep it from happening again."

"Really?"

Yamato gave Jyou a flat look. Was it really so difficult to believe that he felt guilty enough to not want to do this again? He wasn't heartless. He knew when he hurt someone close to him, which was something he never wanted to do... and he obviously hurt Jyou a lot. Jyou was the last person he ever, ever wanted to hurt.

When it became obvious Yamato wasn't planning on talking anymore, Jyou kissed him on the cheek. And then the jaw. And finally his lips. "I hope it's enough," he said after breaking the kiss. "Because I never want to be that scared again."

He proceeded to explain about what had been waiting for him at work, and how he'd been terrified that Yamato was seriously injured when Jyou found him on the floor. That only added to Yamato's guilt, and he knew for certain that feeling was definitely enough to keep him from ever neglecting himself like that again.

"If it happens again..." Jyou started.

"I'm grounded?" Yamato joked.

"Sure. You're grounded."

"Kay, _Dad._"

Jyou chuckled, then leaned in to kiss Yamato on the lips.

"We do like to keep it in the family," he mumbled against Yamato's lips. Yamato groaned and smacked Jyou with a pillow.


End file.
